Council was scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. in the Government Center to discuss the capital plan, a negotiation that has stalled for months because of disagreement over a tax increase and the inclusion of $119 million for a streetcar extension. Foxx said in the letter that the eight-year, billion-dollar plan rejected by council last spring was recommended “to create certainty for our citizens and businesses, shielding them from incremental increases.”

Instead, the mayor and the Democrat-controlled council have failed to reach consensus despite a revived effort started this fall. The third and final meeting would have been held Monday; instead, 30 minutes before it was scheduled to start, the city issued a statement notifying everyone that it had been rescheduled for Dec. 17.

Foxx, a Democrat, says the streetcar has left the capital plan in limbo. There are not enough votes to exclude it from the budget nor enough to pass it as part of the long-range plan. Four Democrats aligned with the two Republicans on council in June to quash the streetcar; later, Foxx vetoed a compromise plan that included most of the neighborhood and economic development projects but left out the streetcar.

The mayor wants seven votes in favor of whatever version of the capital plan emerges. It takes six votes for a majority on the 11-member council. With or without the streetcar, he says, having some form of a capital plan is crucial for the community.

Foxx hopes that a majority will “crystallize” in the next three weeks as time grows short. The vote on a compressed, seven-year capital plan would be held in June 2013.

The threat of a lower bond rating for the city and missing out on low interest rates and cheaper construction costs make this the right time to approve the capital plan, the mayor says.

“I think there is a sense that we need to get off the pot,” Foxx says. “ ... There’s a substantial risk that there will be opposition to any bond package whether the streetcar is in it or not. We’re down into the sausage-making.”

Council needs to make a decision as early as possible to allow time for city leaders to explain the economic development projects and other aspects, including a network of outdoor trails, to the public, supporters say.

During the spring and summer, the prospect of a tax increase stymied the discussion, the mayor says. Now he believes the streetcar poses the biggest obstacle, though higher property taxes remain a difficult consideration.

The budget debate began last winter. For several months, no one on council raised significant opposition to the streetcar or other aspects of the capital plan. As the spring vote approached, dissension torpedoed the plan.

“We’re just trying to work through it,” Foxx says. “It’s not pretty and I wish it were easier, but it is what it is.”